Businessweek Archives

Finance

March 31, 1991

Washington Outlook: CAPITAL WRAPUP

FINANCE

Backers of a plan to force Tokyo to give U. S. financial services firms greater access to Japanese markets have picked up an important supporter in House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.). But the plan by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Donald W. Riegle Jr. (D-Mich.) and ranking GOP member Jake Garn (R-Utah) still faces tough sledding. The proposal, which threatens retaliation against Japanese financial firms unless Tokyo eases restrictions on U. S. companies, has been attached to a renewal of the Defense Production Act, but it may be stripped off in a House-Senate conference.EDITED BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM